Saturday, December 28, 2013

[Go there}: The New (Old) Chinese Sub Shop.

Want a delicious sub (or maybe some sketch Chinese food...), for a cheap price, with the side effect of feeling really hip? Then head to Chinese Sub Shop (I'm not even sure what the real name of the place is called... maybe Super Submarine Sandwich Shop?).

I've been going to Chinese Sub Shop since high school. We'd go after school sometimes or before basketball games. It never changed.. the same people worked behind the counter, you always got asked "hard or soft roll" (the answer is definitely soft), the same off-brand potato chips were on the racks (dill pickle chips are a must). The decor was dim, dirty, and unapologetic but it made the experience.

A bit ago it was announced that the strip of storefronts where Chinese Sub Shop was located (on Highland by the train tracks) was going to be bulldozed and developed. We all feared the worst - no soft roll sandwiches with a delicious oil/italian dressing sauce, no more dill pickle chips, no more wondering if the Chinese food would be a good idea (it isn't).

Luckily Chinese Sub Shop was proactive and moved across town to Summer Avenue (at Holmes, in an old Long John Silver's). It is now closer to me, there are more lights in the dining area, more places to sit, but there's still the same baskets for your sandwiches, still the same styrofoam cups, and they still don't take credit or debit (hit up an ATM!).

You still order at the counter, get a number, and wait for your number to be called. There's daily specials (a rotation of their subs that are discounted). I got my usual - ham. I don't even eat ham sandwiches any more but I still eat them here. Jake got the tuna salad sandwich, which was listed on one of those top things to eat in Memphis.

You can get an 8 or 12 inch sub. I got the 8, Jake the 12. The 12 is a lot of sandwich.

One neat thing - in the dining area there are framed black and whites of their old space, really well done photos. It was cool to see them hanging there.